Superheroes and Skeptics
by vanearte
Summary: Stories are what keep the gods alive, and the memories of demigod heroes, too. Piper, however, won't buy into the story of a certain half-blood heroine so easily.


For Piper, seeing was believing.

Sure, she made acceptions; her grandfather's stories had been so real to her as a child. But she learned, in time, that they were all just fairy tales (or perhaps they weren't? Piper didn't know what to believe anymore).

So perhaps she was more believing these days. But who wouldn't be, if they knew the things that she knew?

Yet, there were still things that she couldn't quite buy into. There were still some stories that didn't win her full support.

One of these stories was that of Silena Beauregard.

It wasn't even one of the stories that Piper could avoid, either. It made appearances at nearly every campfire. Her siblings would often boast about their ex-leader (they boasted about her, too, but that was hardly the point).

And then there were the senior campers.

It was mostly Clarisse and Percy. If anyone even implied that Silena was anything other than a saint, they'd shoot them down. And it just made Piper more and more skeptical. She didn't consider Clarisse anything more than an acquaintance, but Percy was her friend. And everytime they spoke, Piper was itching to ask the question.

Why is Silena a hero?

In Piper's eyes, Silena had always done more harm than good. She helped raise Kronos, who killed so many of her fellow demigods. She was a spy and a liar and a traitor, undeserving of Elysium. Why did she get a pass, when so many other demigods were forgotten?

Piper wasn't the only doubter amongst the Aphrodite kids. Drew Tanaka, ever the pessimist, t never kept her skepticism a secret, although she had the class to keep quiet around Clarisse and the other Silena supporters. Whenever her cabin mates would talk about Silena's crowning triumph, Drew was always the stark opposition.

One day, when walking to the mess hall, Piper found herself in the most distasteful of situations: she was having a conversation with Drew.

"You too, huh?" was the conversation starter, uttered by Little Miss Drama Queen herself.

"Drew", said Piper with a sigh, "I don't know what you're talking about. And I, quite frankly, don't care."

"Oh come _on_ , hun. I see the way you look when the people start fan-girling about Silena. You don't believe them either."

Piper stopped walking.

"You weren't always so loyal to the Greeks yourself, right Piper? You know just how unheroic it is to betray your friends."

Drew smirked as Piper's face turned red. "Face it, girl - you're in denial. You want to believe what your BFFs Percy and Annabeth tell you, but you just can't help seeing all the _ugly_. It's the ugly that you latch onto, when you're a beautiful child of Aphrodite."

And with that, Drew walked away.

It was about two weeks after the anniversary of the Second Titan War when Piper finally snapped.

Stories of the war could still be heard throughout the camp, and Piper had managed to stumble right into the middle of one.

"Okay, so we're all fighting for our lives, right? But we're getting pretty beat up without the Ares campers. And I know that I wasn't the only camper thinking that we might lose."

Percy had always been very enthusiastic in his storytelling, and this time was no exception. His arms were flailing, his cheeks were red, and his ocean eyes were ablaze with excitement. Around him, Clarisse, Jason, Annabeth, Piper, and some of the younger campers were listening intently.

"And then", Percy continues, "all of the Ares campers come roaring in to save the day. They were all like BOOM! CRASH! POW!"

The younger campers giggled, Clarisse simply rolled her eyes.

"Leading them into battle was Clarisse, totally hulked up in all of her armor and ready to kick some major Titan BUTT!" This earned another giggle from the kids, "But, as it turns out, that wasn't really Clarisse. She showed up a little later, wondering why her armor and all of her campers were suddenly gone."

"Who was it, then?" asked a nine year-old daughter of Demeter.

"The person leading the Ares campers to battle was actually Silena Beauregard, head counselor of the Aphrodite cabin. She actually pretended to be Clarisse to help out her fellow demigods. She was the bravest out of all of us. She didn't make it through the battle, but she was still a hero. We would never have won the war without her."

Everyone clapped as Percy stood up and took a mini bow.

"Wow, Perce", said Jason, "I never heard that part of the story before."

"That's because it's not true", mumbled Piper, though perhaps not as quietly as she should have.

A hush fell over the audience. Clarisse was the one to break the silence.

"What'd you say, punk?"

"I said that the story isn't true. Silena Beauregard was a liar, and you're all just piling on more lies to cover it up." Piper wanted to be heard, although she may have not picked the right moment to demand attention.

Hot fury sparked behind Clarisse's eyes as she threw herself at the head of the Aphrodite cabin.

"STOP!"

Clarisse froze, and Annabeth stood between the two girls. For someone who didn't have charmspeak, Piper thought, she sure was good at making people listen.

"Clarisse, go walk it off. Piper, let's talk."

Clarisse's face was red as a tomato. "Listen, blondie-"

"Clarisse", Percy interrupted, "Let it go. She didn't see it. She doesn't know"

Of course Percy wouldn't be defending Piper. He was Silena's friend, and he truly believed that she was deserving of every demigod's respect. Piper couldn't help but feel as though a dent had formed in their relationship. He and Clarisse left without looking back.

Piper and Annabeth walked in silence.

"Piper", Annabeth finally said, "do you really think that Silena doesn't deserve to be a hero?"

Piper opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by Annabeth.

"Stupid question, sorry. Of course you really think that. You wouldn't have said it if you didn't mean it. You never do. The question is, why?"

Piper was silent for a moment. They pair of demigods had stopped at the edge of the beach. The only sound was that of the waves against the shoreline.

Then, Piper spoke: "It's not that I don't want to believe that Silena was good and a hero and all, it's just that I _can't_. She did horrible things. She betrayed her friends, her family. She led to the deaths of so many demigods, including her boyfriend. Of all of the heroes that get redemption. Of all of the traitors-turned-martyrs. Why her? Nathan Nakamura, wasn't he one of Kronos's soldiers? Didn't he die trying to help Percy? Why don't people worship him in camp? Why…" Piper paused, taking a deep breath, "Why can't I just believe it?"

Annabeth looked at Piper. Piper looked back, expecting to see something along the lines of pity in her friend's gray eyes. What she saw, however, was understanding.

"I get it", said Annabeth, "I completely, one-hundred percent get it. The facts don't line up. You're not seeing it, there isn't enough proof for you to come to a solid conclusion. Trust me, I understand more than you know. But what makes a hero, Piper? Is it their faults? Or is it the good that they spread?

"I know that seeing is believing, Piper, and I know that not all of Percy's story was true. I know that he took out all of the ugly parts. But Silena Beauregard was a hero. She inspired the Ares kids to stand by ours side and she gave everyone hope. She spread love around this camp when we needed it most", Annabeth sighed, "And if that doesn't make someone a hero, then I don't know what does."

And with that, Annabeth walked away.

Piper was left standing alone on the beach. She knew that what Annabeth had said was true. She had finally gotten her answer. So why didn't she feel any better?

Maybe it was Piper's bias against all things Aphrodite. Maybe it was that Piper was afraid that the hero of Camp Half-blood was just another Drew who managed to do some good. Or maybe, it was Piper just being selfish. And that was what scared her most of all.

What if Silena was like Drew? What if Piper was like her, too? Just a petty, selfish, superficial child of Aphrodite who just happened to have saved the world? What if she was Silena in someone else's skin? Is that why the demigods at Camp Half-blood liked her; because she was their perfect model of a hero?

Piper couldn't stand it. The questions and the answers and the _doubt_. She pulled her hair and screamed at the top of her lungs, for no other reason than to hear herself do it.

Piper stopped. She took a deep breath and counted to ten. Then, she whispered:

"I am a child of Aphrodite."

She laughed. It was ridiculous, and Piper said it a little louder.

"I am a child of Aphrodite."

And she repeated the phrase over and over again until she was running up and down the beach and yelling it up to the heavens; up to the gods themselves.

Maybe she was like all of her sisters. Maybe she had just stumbled upon heroism by mistake. But she had accepted it.

Piper turned her back to the tumultuous waves and walked towards camp. She had been selfish, and she was going to apologize to the people that deserved it most.

It took Piper around an hour to find Percy and Clarisse. They were sitting underneath Thalia's pine tree, laughing and sharing war stories.

Piper hesitated while approaching them. She couldn't help but feel like an outsider, an intruder on this secret, special thing that belonged to veterans of the Second Titan War and no one else. Suddenly, Clarisse looked up and scowled.

"Well. Look who it is. Little Miss Princess come to apologize?"

Percy looked up. Piper thought that she saw betrayal in his eyes, and prayed to the gods that this wasn't the case.

"Listen-"

"Save it, Princess. Go be all high-and-mighty somewhere else." Clarisse rose from her spot under the tree and began walking back to camp.

Before, Piper would have let her go. She would have buried her face in her hands and sighed.

But now, Piper yelled.

"STOP!".

Clarisse obeyed, although Piper couldn't tell whether it was from charm-speak or of her own free will. Then, she turned around.

"What'd you say, punk?"

Percy got up, on the verge of interference. Piper, however, had other ideas.

"I'm sorry", she said, "I'm not better than Silena or any other child of Aphrodite, and I know now why she was a hero. She wasn't flawless, but she fixed her mistakes, whenever she made them, and it saved the world. I was cruel, and I'm sorry." It came out harsh, a command. It demanded to be heard. And it was all that needed to be said.

And with that, Piper walked away.


End file.
